The Dire Wraiths began swarming over the Decepticons, while the fused Vekktral/Ultra Magnus hybrid prepares to infect Starscream—a horrifying fate that, deep down, even the real Magnus believes Starscream deserves, which makes it even harder for him to fight Vekktral's possession. The Space Knights spring into action, but the hybrid's fusion of Wraith and Cybertronian biology proves resistant to their Neutralizer blasts, so Stardrive takes a more direct approach; grabbing Sata, she instructs her to extend her energy blade to its fullest, then, wielding her fellow knight's body like a sword, Stardrive lops off Vekktral-Magnus's arm, freeing Starscream from his grip. Allegiances forgotten for the moment in the face of a greater threat, Bumblebee, Livia, and Blitzwing help blast the Wraiths off the other 'cons to prevent any more hybrids from being created, but no sooner are all the Decepticons safe than Starscream calls an immediate retreat, determined to snatch the energon synthesizer and leave the rest of the group to their fate.

While Bumblebee, Rom, and Sata contend with Vekktral-Magnus—the little Autobot trying to talk his comrade down, while the Knights focus fire on his chest, seeking to damage his spark—Stardrive takes off after the Decepticons, catching up to Starscream just as he is recovering the synthesizer. Knowing this his silver-tongued skullduggery isn't going to work on the Camien any longer, Starscream just blasts her, but before he can finish her off, Livia comes to her rescue, hitting Starscream with a blast of her own. Livia then stands back to watch as the furious Stardrive physically overpowers Starscream, pounding on him and even ripping his wings off so he cannot fly away. Knowing he is now out of options, Starscream calls the other Decepticons in to pull him out. To cover their escape, Starscream blasts the energon synthesizer, triggering a chain reaction that will soon end in planet-scouring explosion. Stardrive desperately seeks solutions, but Livia forces her to accept that this must be allowed to happen, to burn the Wraith infection out of Xetaxxis.

Concurrently, within Vekktral and Magnus's shared mind, Magnus struggles to fight against Vekktral's possession, but all seems lost, with Vekktral wholly confident that his studies of Sky Blast have taught him all he needs to know about taking over a Cybertronian's body. But that boast gives Magnus the inspiration he needs to fight back... for Vekktral is unaware that Ultra Magnus's body is not like that of other Cybertronians! Fighting his control just long enough, Magnus is able to open his chest armor, exposing his spark, and screams for the Knight to open fire on him, killing both him and his tormentor. Despite Bumblebee's pleas, Rom blasts Magnus in the spark, ending his life and his threat. Inspecting the remains, Rom is confused to find a smaller dead body inside Magnus; Bumblebee explains that this is Convoy, the latest in a line of robots who have worn the Magnus Armor and carried the Ultra Magnus identity.

Unfortunately, Vekktral himself is still alive, having separated from Magnus just before he perished, and he now heads towards the exploding synthesizer, determined to ensure Stardrive dies along with the rest of his people on Xetaxxis. Stardrive instinctively transforms to jet mode and outraces the building explosion; Vekktral clings to her wing, but cannot hold on, and soon falls off, consumed in the expanding energon fireball. With no recourse, Stardrive and her fellow Knights and Cybertronians all retreat to orbit and can only watch as the energon explosion burns its way across half of Xetaxxis, killing everything in its path, both Wraiths and innocent Xetaxxans alike. Having sought this outcome all along, Livia is content to tell herself that his loss of life is in the name of the greater good, a conclusion that Rom begrudgingly accepts, even if he does not agree with it. Stardive, however, will accept it no longer—before the stunned eyes of those around her, her Cybertronian physiology allows her to do what is believed impossible and remove her metallic Solstar armor, which she hands over to Rom, declaring herself a Space Knight no longer. Stardrive takes off, disappearing among the stars, a depressing final beat in an adventure that has ended without winners, which seems to have proven the worst qualities of Cybertronians and Knights to be true.

Starscream returns to the Decepticons' current base of operations, reporting to Megatron that Dire Wraiths are too dangerous to ever consider allying with. The Wraiths have learned a similar lesson; in their hive on another world, they vow never to meddle with technology again and dedicate themselves only to their magicks.

The Magnus Armor's recall switch returns it to the Autobot fleet, and Bumblebee hitches a ride home with it, delivering his grim report to Optimus Prime upon arrival. The Magnus Armor's previous wearer, Minimus Ambus, is called back into active duty, and the downhearted Bumblebee keeps the existence of the energon synthesizer a secret, fearing that if the Autobots were to learn that the Solstar Order possessed the ability to create such a valued object, they would only once again verify every awful thing the Order believes about them in pursuit of it.

Wishing to be no part of each other's wars, the Solstar Order and the Galactic Council formally decide not to ally and to keep to their own sectors of space. Rom takes no joy in this decision, and the sight of Livia and Sata addressing a new batch of Space Knight cadets only depresses him ever further, as the young warriors are warned that once they don the armor of a knight, they can never remove it.

Somewhere else in the galaxy, Stardrive touches down on a beautiful, unspoilt planet. Born into war and shaped by prejudices, her whole life has been defined by others—but now, it's time for her to start living for herself. But as she takes in her surroundings, shadowy tendrils of Dire Wraith infection darken the corner of her eye...

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots	Decepticons	Solstar Order	Others
Ultra Magnus/Convoy (2) Bumblebee (8) Minimus Ambus (file photo, 24) Tyrest (file photo, 25) Ironhide (26) Optimus Prime (27) Prowl (28) Ratchet (29)	Starscream (1) Astrotrain (5) Ramjet (6) Dirge (7) Blitzwing (13) Thrust (14) Tarn (16) Acid Storm (17) Onslaught (18) Soundwave (19) Laserbeak (20) Megatron (21) Thundercracker (22) Ravage (23)	Rom (9) Sata (10) Stardrive (11) Livia (12) Orphion (30)	Vekktral (3) Assorted Dire Wraiths (4) Xetaxxans (15) Various Galactic Council representatives (31)

Quotes

"Hey, Astrotrain—you changing into a big disgusting tentacle-thing would be an improvement... but I like having somebody to push around."
"You're a real pal, Blitzwing."

—Blitzwing rescues Astrotrain from the Wraiths

"I'm not like other Cybertronians. And I'm not just worthy of the badge—the badge makes me what I am!"

—Ultra Magnus goes out with honor

"Sacrifices must be made for the greater good. This was the only option."
"Perhaps. But nonetheless, we failed. And if, every time we fail, we convince ourselves there was no other option... outcomes such as these will become common. We will be no better than the Wraiths."

—Livia and Rom

"They were right about me. The organics; the machines. They knew who I was. I was born into death and destruction. And war became my life. They decided who I was, so their decision shaped me. But no more. I am me. Stardrive. Not who they see me as. Not who they think I am. But who I choose to be. And the day I realized I could be more than Cybertronian... more than a Solstar Knight... was the day I was reborn.

—Stardrive closes out the series

Notes

Continuity notes

In addition to Bumblebee (who says he only knows about it because "people always tell him their secrets"), Optimus Prime, Prowl, Ironhide, and Ratchet are shown to be aware that "Ultra Magnus" is a title passed down from 'bot to 'bot, rather than an individual. Ratchet and Prowl having this knowledge this was previously established, in More than Meets the Eye #21 and #27, respectively.
The decision to label Minimus as a former wearer of the Magnus Armor who is only returning to the role after Convoy's death feels like the belated patching of a plot hole, potentially inserted into the dialogue after the fact. As we observed in our notes for issue #2, working on the presumption that Minimus was the next bearer chosen after the death of Convoy, less than 200 years has always seemed like it would not be enough time for Minimus to have been operating as Ultra Magnus, based on previous stories that have identified him as one of the longest-serving Magnuses in a timeline that has seen Magnus exist for millions of years. By revealing that he had worn the armor for an indeterminate amount of time prior to Convoy—and was then badly damaged and ceded the job to Convoy for "about a century"—that discontinuity is fixed.
The fact that Stardrive would shed her Solstar armor was revealed a week early when she turned up on the last page of Optimus Prime #13 back in her original purple, green, and blue colors (as seen originally in issue #1).
The beehive-cum-spider-web structure the Dire Wraiths gather in during their epilogue is presumably a Wraith Hive, a structure the Wraiths were said to construct in ROM #1—though not during their invasion of Earth!
The Dire Wraith disdain for science was first established in Micronauts: First Strike.
The smaller starships surrounding the Autobot command craft are various Arks, the distinctive crafts utilized by various Autobot teams during Simon Furman's run.

Transformers references

Ultra Magnus's "thought bubbles" for his conversation with Vekktral inside their shared mind are rendered in the style of Transformers speech balloons from the Generation 1 Marvel comic—rectangular with "starbursts" at the corners.
The "floor" of Ultra Magnus's mental landscape—a grid pattern in various shades of red, turning to yellow around the figure of Magnus himself—is styled after the package design of the original Generation 1 toyline used between 1987 and 1988.
"Convoy" was Optimus Prime's Japanese name, which was derived from the name of the Diaclone toy on which he was based, "Battle Convoy." Ultra Magnus's toy, meanwhile, shares the same cab robot as Optimus Prime's, because the original Diaclone version of the Magnus toy was an upgraded version of "Battle Convoy" named "Powered Convoy." So its use here is a reference to like three things at once!
The Decepticon base which appears on page 17—shaped like a Decepticon insignia, carved into a mountain on some unknown alien world—is a bulked-up and heavily armed version of the temporary base used by the villains in the Generation 1 cartoon episode "Enter the Nightbird", complete with an entry/exit portal in the gap between the symbol's "forehead crest" and "face."
On page 18, on a screen behind Prowl, an image of the Decepticon warship Nemesis is visible, drawn to match its appearance in the Beast Wars animated series.

Covers (3)

Cover A: Our heroes and villains, by Alex Milne and Josh Perez
Cover B: Ultra Magnus, Stardrive, Bumblebee, Starscream and Rom, by Nick Roche and Josh Burcham
Cover C: Bumblebee and Rom by David Messina